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MasterCard trials selfie payments in the Netherlands and US

18 August 2015

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MasterCard is embarking on two pilots, one in the US and one in the Netherlands, which use facial recognition technology for payment verification.

The card giant is working with International Card Services (ICS) on a trial that will see 750 ABN Amro credit card users ditch passwords, PINs and confirmation codes and instead pay online through fingerprint and facial recognition.

Participants in the three month trial will download the MasterCard app from the Apple Store or Google Play and register on the ICS site to get a code emailed to them for activating online payments. Then, during checkout in a web store, the consumer will receive a pop-up on their mobile phone, through which they can authorise the payment via finger scan or selfie recognition.

Arjan Bol, country manager MasterCard Netherlands, says: "Biometrical technology has been developed to improve both speed and safety of online payments. This test will prove exactly that. And what is easier - and more fun - than paying through a selfie or fingerprint?"

Meanwhile, in what is claimed to be a US first, more than 200 of the credit union's employees will test the "selfie pay" system that will verifying their identities via facial photographs or fingerprint scans conducted on smartphones.

The closed environment pilot will see participants make virtual donations to the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals as First Tech bids to gauge whether biometrics could deliver greater security and convenience to customers.

Greg Mitchell, CEO, First Tech, says: "Our members are some of the most technologically focused consumers on the planet, and being an innovator in the payments security space is evidence of our strong desire to meet our members’ unique needs."

With the likes of Apple Pay raising awareness, MasterCard says that its research shows that three quarters of people have now heard of biometric payments. While fingerprint scanning is the most common form of biometric authentication, facial recognition is gaining some traction, with Wells Fargo trialling it for mobile corporate access and firms in Taiwan and China exploring its use at ATMs.